Naruto's Return
by kilrath
Summary: Chapter 3 up, Naruto Disappears and is presumed dead after a confrontation with Itachi and Kisame. Two years later he shows up again. Later may turn into NaruHina or NaruKyu it depends on where my muse takes me
1. Prologue

Naruto's Return

Prologue

Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto were just a few miles outside the walls of Konoha, returning from their latest mission to gather information on Akatsuki's whereabouts. They were all tired because they had pushed themselves in order to get home by nightfall and they were making good time.

"Hey guys," shouted Naruto as he saw the walls ahead, "We're almost there."

At this the group picked up speed and started to relax and let down their guards thinking themselves safe this close to Konoha. This proved to be a horrible mistake, one that three of the group would not soon forget.

As soon as the team relaxed two very familiar faces appeared. They were Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.

At the sight of two of the most infamous missing nin the group stopped and got ready to fight knowing that there was little chance that they could succeed in defeating the two.

"We're here for Naruto, step aside and we will let you live," Started Itachi, "If you get in our way you will die and the next few days of Naruto's existence will be very painful."

At this statement all of the Konoha nin were rather confused.

"What d-do you w-want with N-Na-Naruto-Kun" asked Hinata while trying to edge in front of Naruto to protect him if need be.

Neji continued with Hinata's thought, "Sure Naruto is an exceptional ninja but what would Akatsuki want with him?"

"We don't really want Naruto himself," Kisame Started, " We want what's inside of him." After that statement Kisame turned to Itachi. "Can't we just kill them and go? Whats the point in sitting here talking especially since Samehada hasn't eaten in a couple days. Just let me have a little fun."

"No." Itachi stated in a manner leaving little room for argument. " There is no need for us to get into a useless confrontation and the longer we stay here the more likely it is we get spotted."

"Alright Itachi, in that case I can make it quick." Replied Kisame.

At this point Naruto spoke up for the first time, " If I come with you do you promise not to hurt my friends?" he asked.

"Naruto you can't do that," Shikamaru stated, " It would really be to troublesome to have to send a search party out for you."

" He's right Naruto-kun, we could never let you do that, it wouldn't be right," Hinata chimed in.

At this point Naruto turned to them and quietly said "Guys I really don't want to go with them but let them take me and get back to Konoha and let Baa-chan know whats going on. As soon as you guys are past them I'll start fighting and hold them until you can get help, I don't want any of you to get hurt."

Hinata looked as if she wouldn't go but Neji spoke up. "Ok Naruto, are you sure you can hold them until we get some help here?"

"Yea I am." Naruto gave a grin at this point and turned back to Itachi and Kisame and restated his previous question, " If I agree to go with you will you leave my friends alone?"

Itachi gave Naruto an appraising look at this and nodded. "If you come with us we will leave your friends alone." At this Kisame looked rather distraught.

"Well I guess I don't get to have any fun with you brats today, be glad that the blonde idiot is willing to give himself up for you," Kisame smirked, "Now get your asses moving before I decide to kill you anyway."

Shikamaru, Hinata, and Neji decided that this was the best time to get moving and dashed of towards Konoha. As soon as Naruto believed the others were a safe distance away he looked at Itachi and smirked, " Well, I guess I have to go with you now huh, but what would you do if I were to do this," Naruto asked as he snapped his fingers.

Itachi and Kisame were immediately on guard but after waiting for a few seconds nothing happened and they turned back to Naruto.

"Itachi I don't care at this point, I just want to kill him. I really want to kill him since he made me look like a fool." Kisame Shouted.

"I know how you feel," Itachi stated, "but now is not the time for your petty indignation."

Right as Itachi finished his sentence a second Naruto appeared from behind Kisame with a Rasengan in hand.

Meanwhile with Neji, Shikamaru, and Hinata

The gates were in sight as were the guards. All three teens looked at eachother and silently agreed, no stopping, they had to get to Tsunade right away and let her know what was happening outside the walls.

As the group reached the gate the guards called out to them and an explosion was heard from where they had just left. They turned to look as they continued forward but couldn't make out any details of the fight, to many trees obscured their sight.

Neji and Shikamaru stopped running and headed back to Naruto to help him.

'Man, Naruto always gets into really troublesome situations,' thought Shikamaru, 'First he had to fight missing nin on his first C-rank mission, then he had to fight Orochimaru in the forest of death, and then there was that Gaara kid from Suna. Now he has to fight Akatsuki. Why are you the one who has to deal with all of these things Naruto?'

By this point Hinata had reached Hokage tower. She rushed in and ran up the stairs to Tsunade's office. When she got there she was stopped from entering by two ANBU and told that Tsunade was busy at the moment and couldn't be disturbed.

"I have to get in there and speak with Tsunade-sama. Our group ran into some trouble on the way back after our mission," said Hinata.

"We can't let you in right now, you can hand in your mission report in the morning," Said the ANBU with a hawk mask, "In any case though Tsunade isn't seeing anyone right now."

Hinata decided to try and rush the door but she barely made it two steps before she was grabbed and pinned by the two ANBU. "I have to speak with Tsunade-sama," yelled Hinata, "This is a matter of life and death."

It was at this point that Tsunade poked her head out the door. "What's going on here, why are you being so loud?"

"We apologize Tsunade-sama but Hinata-san kept trying to get in despite what we told her," Spoke the second ANBU, this one with a cat mask, "We will remove her at---"

"No Tsunade-sama, Naruto-kun is in trouble," Hinata interrupted, " We were stopped by Itachi and Kisame just three miles outside the walls. Naruto made them think he would go quietly to let Shikamaru, Neji, and I to come get help and then he started fighting with them. He needs help NOW."

At hearing this Tsunade grabbed Hinata and ran down stairs. On the way down she saw Shizune. "Shizune, get Kakashi and Gai NOW, have them meet me at the north gate, also send a unit of ANBU." Thundered Tsunade.

"HAI," squeaked Shizune at the unexpected voice.

Two minutes later Tsunade and Hinata were at the gate waiting. Hinata looked to Tsunade and said "we can't wait much longer Naruto-kun is in troub—"

At this point Gai appeared, dust cloud trailing him and Kakashi poofed into existence, at the same time both asked "Why are we here Tsunade-sama?"

Right after the question the ANBU unit appeared, "Alright, we move now. I'll explain what's going on as we move," yelled Tsunade.

She began to explain, "Uzumaki Naruto is currently engaging two S-rank missing nin in an attempt to hold out for long enough for help to arrive. It seems Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru have already headed back to try and help but we have no guarantees that they will be enough." Another explosion thundered out of the woods just a mile in front of the group.

As they got closer, Hinata saw both Neji, and Shikamaru being carried out of the area by what seemed to be two kage bunshin. One of the bunshin spoke up, "They aren't hurt, just unconscious. Boss had to knock them out to get them away so he didn't hurt them with his next attack."

Right as the bunshin finished speaking a gigantic explosion was heard and a shockwave hit the group dispelling both kage bunshin.

Kakashi, Tsunade and Hinata all cried out "NARUTO."

The group moved towards the site of the explosion at an increased pace. When they got there, there was a crater of almost a quarter mile in diameter, the landscape was absolutely destroyed.

"I can see why Naruto went so far to get Shikamaru and Neji out of the area," sighed Kakashi, "Chances are no-one survived a blast like that, I doubt even Naruto could live through something like that."

"Search the area," Tsunade barked out, "I want anything you find brought to me immediately."

Just two minutes later one of the ANBU appeared in front of Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, take a look at this." At that the ANBU held out a head, not just and head, but the head of Kisame. "It appears that Uzumaki was able to kill at least one of the missing nin but so far we have found no trace of Uzumaki or Itachi."

It was at this point that Kakashi showed up. He looked to Tsunade and said "I'm sorry."

Tsunade looked at him and yelled, "What do you mean? Why are you sorry?" Kakashi stepped up to her and gave her the necklace he had found, the same one that she had give to Naruto a few years ago. At this Tsunade broke down and started to cry. She knew Naruto never took the necklace off, if he didn't have it he was likely dead. She let the search continue for another hour but the only other thing that was found was a severed arm thought to be Itachi's.

One Week Later

The remaining 7 members of the rookie 9 and team Gai were all standing silently with a select few villagers at the funeral of Uzumaki Naruto. It was a very somber day and the skies were black with clouds. It rained and it made some feel as if the whole world wept for Uzumaki Naruto. Everyone acted differently, some such as Sakura and Hinata were openly weeping for their fallen friend and others like Neji and Shino remained quite stoic though everyone knew they were all hurting. As the service came to a close everyone there went up to the empty casket to pay his or her respects. The few villagers went up first. All of the shinobi knew the last two to approach, they were the people from the ramen stand, some of the very few who had indeed accepted Naruto.

"I never thought that you would go before me Naruto," said Teuchi, "In remembrance I'm going to dedicate a part of my menu to you."

Ayame followed her father, "I hope your happy wherever you are now Naruto, you deserve it."

After those two the ninja started to approach. Many higher ranked ninja walked up and proceeded to place a single flower on the casket remembering all of the pranks and the trouble that Naruto caused but knowing that he just wanted to be acknowledged.

Finally after a few minutes the 10 remaining rookies and their respective sensei remained. First Kakashi walked up. "Naruto, you were annoying, brash, and loud as hell but you were dedicated and you would never let harm come to your friends if you could help it. It's a shame that you had to go so early, you were a great shinobi and you would have made an excellent hokage.' At this Kakashi placed down one of his most prized possessions, a single tri pronged kunai knowing that Naruto would have wanted to learn the jutsu it represented.

Next was the last member of team 7, Sakura. Once she reached the casket she couldn't stop herself, she fell to her knees and cried. "Naruto, why did you have to be so stupid. You got yourself killed. First we lost Sasuke then I lost you, its not fair," she wailed. Seeing that Sakura may take a while Kakashi went over to her and prodded her along then offered to take her home to rest. She agreed though with a heavy heart.

The next ones to come up were team 10, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji.

Ino stepped up first, she didn't have anything to say nor did she think she could speak if she did have something to say. She simply set a single flower on the casket and said, "Goodbye," she then began to weep.

Shikamaru walked up next. "Why did you have to knock us out Naruto, we could have helped. You were troublesome but I would rather have you being troublesome than being dead. I know that you knocked us out to protect us but I think Neji and I would have rather fought along side you," With that said Shikamaru took out his Shogi board and set it on the casket.

This simple action shocked Choji, he knew that Shikamaru loved that board, it was one of the first gifts he remembered getting and he always kept it around. 'Naruto must have been one of Shikamaru's best friends just like he was to me,' thought Choji. He walked to the casket and set down a simple bowl, it didn't seem like much to any but Shikamaru and Ino. The bowl was the same one he always used to eat at Ichiraku. "Well Naruto I guess with you gone I'll have to eat double at Ichiraku, wouldn't want them going out of business you know," said Choji. After that all of team 10 walked away wishing that it could have been themselves in Naruto's place.

Team Gai approached next. None of them had much to say so they all bowed their heads in respect and set a single flower atop the casket each. As they walked away Lee turned back to the casket and said in a somber tone of voice, "It will be sad not to see your youthful presence anymore Naruto."

The Last remaining people were the members of team 8 along with their sensei, Kurenai. They all approached but Kurenai broke the silence before anyone else could. "I may not have known you very well but I know that you had a heart of gold. You couldn't bear to see other people in pain and that made you a very special person. I hope your afterlife is better than your life was." She walked to give her team some privacy with their now deceased friend.

Kiba approached. "Well Naruto I guess I'm the top dog now but this is definitely not the way I wanted it to happen. Besides Akamaru you were my best friend. I know I always said you could never be hokage but in truth I really believed you would make it, it's just not fair that you had to die so young. At least you took the bastards that lead to it with you." Kiba set a bone on top of the casket, similar to the way a dog would bring its food to the Alpha first.

Shino approached in his normal detached manner. "Uzumaki Naruto, I may not say much normally and I may never have told you but your friendship was important to me. You were one of the first people outside of my family not to criticize me for the kikai that reside in my body and for that I thank you." At this point Shino produced a small colony of kikai and set it upon the casket. "I give you this fledgling nest to protect you and as a sing of respect from the Aburame."

Hinata was all that was left at this point and Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai decided to leave her alone knowing how important the boy had been to her. She walked up to the casket and continued to cry over it. She sobbed out, "Nar—Naruto-kun, Wh—why did you have to l—leave me. I—I know I ne—never told you but I—I loved you. I Wi—wish I could have been stro—stronger but I guess I was never meant to have you. G—goodbye Naruto." After her confession to the empty casket Hinata Continued to weep. She waited for a few moments and then took off her locket. "This used to be my mother's but I want you to have it now." She placed it on top of everything else there and finally left.

Well there was the prologue for my story Naruto's Return. This is the first thing I have ever posted and I hope that you enjoyed it so far. I don't know how long it will take me to get the actual chapters up but because I am looking for a job at the moment it may be a while.

Please review and let me know what you think. If its good tell me so if its not tell me how I can fix it. Also please no Flames, they just make you look foolish and they never help the writer.


	2. Chapter 1

Naruto's Return

Chapter One

A/N This chapter is the real start of my story and takes place two years after Naruto disappeared. Also I do not own Naruto

It was a cool morning in the desert that surrounded Suna. All of the animals in the area were scurrying back to their homes in order to avoid the coming heat of day but the villagers and ninja of Suna were rising to start the day.

Two of the ninja, Temari and Kankuro, were just heading into the Kazekage tower to speak with their younger brother, Gaara, the kazekage, to get their assignments for the day. Today it turned out was not their day. They were both assigned gate duty. They realized that the duty was important but Kankuro spoke up, "Gaara how can you assign us gate duty, we're two of the top jounin in the village."

"I realize that but we are currently short handed. Several missions have been extended due to unforeseen circumstances and I need you two to watch the gate for a day or two until we get back several of the mission teams that are out.

The morning was rather uneventful, a few teams of genin and chunin returned, some with minor injuries, but it was never anything bad. There was also no strange activity near the gate or even in the distance.

"This is so boring," Kankuro complained, "I could be using this time to improve on my puppets or to build a new one. I know exactly what I want to build too. If I built the puppet I would have the ultimate defense as a puppeteer. It would be a very strong hollow puppet, not unlike what Sasori had used."

"Oh shut up. I don't care about you and your stupid puppets." Exclaimed Temari. "I'm really bored to though."

With that the two Suna nin fell into conversation and became a bit to relaxed. They stopped watching the desert past the gate so much and opted to watch the immediate vicinity instead.

As the day wore on it came closer and closer to noon when the gates of Sunagakure would close for the next three hours. The gates closed during this time because you would have to be crazy or in trouble to be in the desert at that point in the day as the temperatures increased.

Temari and Kankuro were still taking it easy seeing that no one had appeared since about nine and their shift was almost over. If they had been doing their job properly they would have noticed some strange activity in the distance. Someone was approaching extremely fast.

Kankuro and Temari didn't notice whomever it was that was approaching until they were almost right on top of the gate. At this point they snapped to attention and asked the approaching person for identification. Now that they were close enough the two Suna nin could see that it wasn't one person like they thought at first, but two. One, a woman, was carrying the other, a rather weak looking man.

The woman appeared to be royalty. She stood roughly five and a half feet tall and had flowing crimson hair that ended halfway down her back with light silvery white tips. The hair shone beautifully in the light and appeared to have been taken great care of. The woman further wore a very fine kimono that looked as it could be used for battle. It looked as if the kimono were made of fine silk but at the moment it was hard to tell for sure due to the speed the woman moved and the crimson fluid that slowly dripped off of the bottom.

The man looked horrible. He was tall, maybe a little over six feet, but at the moment he was very pale. It looked as if he were going to die any second. On top of his head was a mop of crimson streaked blonde hair. It was hard to tell if the hair was bloody or if the look was normal. On further examination it could be seen that the man was wearing clothing that was much to small for him. The clothing was also in shreds. It looked as if the clothing were once a black and orange coat and black pants, though again it was hard to tell for sure.

Temari jumped in front of the woman to try and stop her approach but the woman just ran her over. Kankuro took out a couple puppets and alerted Gaara to the fact that an unknown was trying to enter and he was going to try and detain her.

Just seconds after the message was sent Kankuro's puppets were on their way towards the woman. Inches away from her they stopped and fell to the ground. Kankuro just stared at them and the woman entered Suna. As she ran through the path into the village Gaara appeared.

"Halt and state your buisiness," he droned out in a dry but threatening monotone. "If you try to continue any further I will have to detain you by force and I can not guarantee that you would live."

Again the woman just ignored the person in front of her and continued to run. Sand shot out from all around Gaara and grabbed the woman's legs, tripping her in the process. As she fell the man in her arms flew forward, hitting the ground just two feet in front of Gaara.

Gaara glanced down and his eyes went wide. The beaten body in front of him was that of his first true friend, the one who had supposedly died two years ago in order to protect his precious people. The man was none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

With this new information Gaara quickly picked up the body in front of him with his sand and rushed towards the hospital. The woman he had tripped, now free, followed Gaara.

Upon arrival at the hospital a nurse approached the Kazekage to welcome him and offer him the monthly health reports of the injured ninja. It wasn't until she reached him that the nurse saw Naruto on Gaara's sand.

"Get a stretcher over here," she yelled.

Seconds later two more nurses arrived with a stretcher and Gaara put the nearly dead form of Naruto on it. "Make sure he lives," Gaara said. The nurses understood and quickly rushed off to do their jobs.

At this point Gaara turned and looked at the red headed woman behind him. "I thank you for bringing him here, though I have to wonder how he was injured to such an extent." Gaara shot a piercing look at the woman but she seemed unaffected by it.

"This was the closest village that would have been able to help him, that and I know he was a friend of yours," the mystery woman said.

"Let us take this to my office, we have much to discuss," Gaara said.

An hour later in Gaara's office

"Ok, I understand Kasumi. I have to inform the hokage of this turn of events," Gaara stated.

"Of course, I'm just really glad that you're helping Naruto and I understand that he needs to return to his home village once he can be transported," the woman now identified as Kasumi said.

Same time in Konoha

Tsunade hated this day. It was a day of great celebration for most of the village. At first the only reason that the village celebrated was that today was the anniversary of the defeat of the kyuubi, the dreaded fox that had gone on a rampage and destroyed much of Konoha and killed many of its ninja. Then two years ago the day gained another cause for celebration in the eyes of most of the villagers, the demon spawn, as they thought of him, had been killed. Tsunade's reason for being in the village was ripped away from her two years ago on this day, October tenth. Naruto had been killed by Akatsuki, or more likely himself in an effort to kill the two Akatsuki members after him.

"I have to find someone to replace me," Tsunade sighed, "Do you want the job?" She asked no one it seemed until an ANBU wearing a dog mask came out.

"You know that I couldn't do that Tsunade-sama, it was his dream and I won't be the one to take it from him even though he is dead," the masked ANBU replied.

"I know Kakashi but I need to find someone soon, he was the reason I came here and the only reason I thought I could deal with the village again," Tsunade replied. Suddenly Tsunade looked as if she had remembered something and she turned around to face Kakashi. "What time is it?" she questioned him quickly.

"Well," Started Kakashi, "judging by the sun I would say it's about one thirty, why do you need to know?"

"Don't tell me you forgot what's happening today at two Kakashi," Tsunade growled out.

"I know whats going on, everyone is gathering at the memorial stone to pay their respects to Naruto again and then just like last year we'll all sit around and talk about what he did for us," sighed Kakashi, " I really don't know if I can bring myself to go. It hurts so much to know that he's gone."

"I know what you mean Hatake, but you know he would want to be remembered and if you and the others didn't he would be forgotten, we can't let that happen," Tsunade said seeming as old as she actually was for once. "I trust I'll see you there Kakashi, if even for only a little while."

Two thirty at the memorial stone

A surprisingly large group had gathered at the stone to remember Naruto and the sacrifices he had made to help them. There were a few civilians like the Ichirakus and then many ninja. As expected the rookies were all there, including Sasuke. He had come back just six months after Naruto's death. The council decided that since he was the last Uchiha and he came back of his own free will that he was to be given no punishment but Tsunade went over the heads of the council and had him stuck to d rank missions for the next six months, less if he behaved and agreed to have his cursed seal removed by Jiraiya. He agreed because he had found that the curse seal held no more power after Orochimaru had died. After two weeks back he had yet to see Naruto and started to ask about him. No one he talked to would tell him anything so he decided to go see Tsunade thinking that she would know where to find Naruto and how he could best apologize to him, believing that was the reason he had yet to see Naruto. When he found out Naruto was dead he shut himself off for a while. He slowly returned to the world and eventually started to come and offer prayer for Naruto at the memorial stone everyday.

A couple hours later everybody had finished their prayers for Naruto and started to swap stories when a messenger hawk from Suna started to circle overhead. It landed on Tsunade's shoulder and she took the not from its leg before it flew away. She opened the note and it read simply, "Hokage-sama, I have found someone you may want to see. Please come to Suna as soon as possible.

Gaara, Godaime Kazekage."

"Well, it looks like I'll have a mission for a couple of you tomorrow," Tsunade said.

"What is it Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked.

"Well, the kazekage has something he would like me to see so three of you are going to be my escort to Suna," she replied, "I think I'll take Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru."

The three named ninja all replied, "Hai."

The Next Morning

The sun was just rising and Tsunade, Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru were standing at the gate ready to leave. "Ok," Tsunade started, "Chouji, you're in front because besides me you are physically the strongest, after him I want Shikamaru, myself, then Hinata. Hinata, I want you to make periodic checks using the Byakugan to make sure no one is following or getting ready to ambush us. Lets move out."

The trip to Suna was uneventful and the team made it there in just a couple of days. When they got there Temari greeted them and started to lead them to the Kazekage tower. On the way Tsunade looked at her and asked, "So who does Gaara have that he wants me to see so badly?"

"I don't know," Temari replied, "he won't let me see the person and he won't charge them even though they broke into Suna getting past myself and Kankuro. He won't even talk about it. All I know is that there was a woman and she brought in a man."

"Hmm, the only reason I could see him asking me to come out here would be if he captured a high profile missing nin from Konoha but if he didn't lock them up then I have no clue what he wants me to see. Guess I'll have to wait and see," Tsunade said.

The group reached the tower just a few minutes later and was ushered immediately to see Gaara. They entered his office and he motioned for them to sit.

"You no doubt want to know who was so important that I called you here to see them," Gaara stated, "I will only tell you at the moment you will be very happy to see them but they are curentally in a coma and nothing that the Suna med nin do can seem to wake him."

"Can't you just tell me who it is you have?" asked Tsunade, "I mean why won't you?"

"You would not believe me if I did tell you so I will let you see for yourselves," Gaara smirked, "As it is you will have to wait until tomorrow to see him so that the med nin can get done with him. Meet me here at nine in the morning."

The next morning came to slowly for Tsunade's tastes. Gaara had peaked her curiosity so she had trouble sleeping. The same could be said of everyone who was with her at the time. As nine approached, the Konoha ninja arrived in Gaara's office. When they arrived the office was empty and Gaara was nowhere to be seen. At exactally nine a swirl of sand appeared in the middle of the office and in the middle was Gaara.

"Let us head to the hospital to see him now," Gaara said.

The group walked off and arrived at the hospital in short order. Right as he got in Gaara flagged down a nurse and asked, "How is my patient?"

"He is stable but he has yet to awaken," she replied, "If he had gotten here much later he would probably have died. Also, the woman you allowed to stay with him hasn't left at all since she arrived."

"Thank you Ayame, go back to work now," Gaara said, "Ok hokage-sama, are you ready to see him?"

"Of course I am." She replied, "I would have seen him yesterday if you would have let me."

The group approached a door on the third floor before Gaara stopped. "This may shock you but you should all be glad after this is over." Gaara opened the door and Tsunade started to walk in. She stopped in the doorway.

"Tsunade-sama, whats wrong?" Hinata asked.

"N—n—Naruto" She whispered just loud enough to be heard by the three behind her.


	3. Chapter 2

Naruto's Return

Chapter 2

"Naruto," whispered Tsunade again, "You're alive. How? I saw the distruction you caused. There should be no way to have survived that." Tsunade just continued to stare at the comatose form of the boy that had brought her back to Konoha, a boy who until just a second ago was believed to be dead. She started to tear up at the thought of him being back but the medic in her stopped her and reminded her she should check on his condition. She walked up next to the bed that held the blonde and listened to the machines that monitored him. Everything was normal according to those machines but Naruto would not awaken so she used a rather complex scanning jutsu to see if she could find the problem that kept him in his current state.

What Tsunade found startled her. His mind was in tatters and his body should have been dead judging by the many scarring wounds. "Naruto, you are a remarkable man. No one that I know could have survived what you seemed to have."

"How is he, how is Naruto-kun Tsunade-sama," asked Hinata as tears of joy began to fall from her lavender eyes, "Will he be ok? Can he come back to Konoha with us?"

"Well, he will be returned to Konoha regardless. The real question is will he be returned as a shinobi or as a traitor to executed," Tsunade said. In reality her thoughts were nowhere close to the traitor side of things. Naruto would never abandon Konoha and his friends if he had any say in it. "I need to send out a message to Konoha Gaara-san, would it be possible for me to use your messenger hawks?"

"Of course," Gaara replied, "Just head to my office and tell Temari that you need to send a message." With that Tsunade left to send a message to konoha. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Hinata all stayed in the room with Naruto and the woman who had apparently been here with him since he was deemed to be out of critical condition.

Hinata turned to the red headed woman sitting next to Naruto's bed. "Ano, but who are you? How do you know N—Naruto-Kun," she asked with barely a stutter.

Kasumi looked at Hinata thinking 'I can't let her know how I really know Naruto, it would break his heart if his friends found out and left him. I'll have to leave breaking that news to him.' Kasumi sat looking at Hinata for a few seconds then finally answered. "I helped him when he was in trouble a few times and I helped him just a month ago. I was also the one to carry him here after he was injured." What Kasumi left out was the fact that she was the Kyuubi that Naruto had contained up until two months ago when Akatsuki tried to extract her from him.

"Well, thanks a lot for your help. If you hadn't of been there for him this would have been to troublesome for me," said Shikamaru as everyone decided to leave Naruto alone in his room.

Two Days Later

Tsunade had sent a message to Konoha to Shizune to ask her to send Inoichi to Suna to do a mind walk on Naruto. It was her obligation as hokage to see why he didn't return after defeating the two S-ranked missing nin that were part of Akatsuki.

Inoichi arrived just before noon and was immediately rushed into a private room with Gaara and Tsunade. "I take it you have no idea why you specifically were called here to do the mind walk when your daughter is better at the family arts. Am I right Inoichi?" asked Tsunade.

"I am a bit curious but it isn't my place to question your judgment. I can do the mind walk any time you would like me to Hokage-sama, all I ask is that you tell me who the mind I will be invading belongs to." Said Inoichi.

Gaara replied before Tsunade could say anything. "Of course we will tell you whose mind you will be reading. This will also make you understand why you were asked for by name. You will be walking a mind of a man who was thought dead for the last two years. You will be entering the mind of Uzumaki Naruto."

"I can see why you asked for me then," Started Inoichi, "my daughter still doesn't know that he is the container for that beast. I will do the mind walk and get you whatever information you need to accuse or acquit him of any treasonous acts."

"Thank you Inoichi. I need to know what he has been doing for the last two years. I need to know why he didn't come home or let anyone know he was still alive." Said Tsunade as she sat further back into her seat. "If what you find is good enough I will then see what I can do for the state his mind is in."

"Hokage-sama, what do you mean by that? What state is his mind in?" asked Inoichi.

"When I checked him a couple days ago his mind seemed broken, disjointed. I can't try to fix anything for sure until I know what's going on in his head." Replied Tsunade. With that the three left the room they were in and headed to the hospital to start the investigation in Naruto's mind. When they arrived at the room in the hospital where Naruto was still comatose Tsunade had to order everyone to leave. "Ok everyone you have to get out, Inoichi needs this to be private and it won't be if you're here so OUT."

That simple action confused Chouji and Hinata. Kasumi and Shikamaru had an idea what was happening and Shikamaru quickly spoke up. "Tsunade-sama is probably having Inoichi do a mind walk on Naruto to find out what happened to him for the last two years. She probably kicked us out because there may be some classified information or something released in the mind walk. This is all just getting to troublesome."

Inside the hospital room Inoichi entered Naruto's mind. What he saw when he entered frightened him a bit. In most people's minds the mind was represented by a long, straight corridor with doors on either side. Usually very few doors were locked and those that were, were just bad memories that the person didn't care to remember or just forgot. When he entered Naruto's mind he found that everything was in a state of disrepair and there was no a distinct corridor like normal. His mind twisted and turned and the path split in many directions. Inoichi just looked on amazed at the sight before him. After a few seconds he got down to buisiness. He approached the first door and found it locked. 'Well, that's not to unusual' he thought 'I guess something that happened while he was gone, probably what has him in the condition he's in, is linked to the memory here.' Inoichi proceded further into Naruto's mind. In just a few scant minutes he was rather disturbed.

Five minutes after Inoichi had entered Naruto's mind he looked up to Tsunade. "I had heard that you worked quickly Inoichi but I didn't think it was possible for you to be that quick," said Tsunade.

"I can't work that quickly," Inoichi replied. "Like you said, his mind is a mess. Even worse than that is the fact that every memory I tried to approach was locked away. Either he is able to unconsciously able to defend his mind, or the last two years of his life have been extremely bad. I'm going to have to get a room prepared and use one of our more advanced versions of Shintenshin to get anything from him."

Tsunade sighed and thought for a few minutes. "Do what you need to do Inoichi. I need to know what happened with him the last two years."

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," Inoichi said. He hesitated for a few moments before he continued. "With the jutsu I'm going to use it is likely I will end up seeing most, if not all of Naruto's life to date. I figured you would want to know before I invaded his privacy in such a way." With that Inoichi left the room to find Gaara. He needed to find a room where he could draw up some seal diagrams and where they could bring Naruto so that he could jump into his mind.

Two days passed as Inoichi got ready for his journey into Naruto's mind. In this time the three rookies that had come with Tsunade took every chance they had to come and see Naruto. Shikamaru would just sit at his side and mumble about how troublesome Naruto was but at the same time he would say that it was even more troublesome when everyone believe he was dead. Chouji, having heard that sometimes when a person was in a coma they could be awoken by the sound of a friend or loved ones voice just sat and talked to Naruto as he munched on his ever present chips. He talked about what had changed since he disappeared and how everyone was doing now. He also talked briefly about how Sasuke returned and what everyone had thought at the time. Hinata had been the most vocal of the three of them surprisingly. She had finally gathered the courage to tell Naruto that she loved him after Chouji had told her that he might be able to hear them.

Flashback (1 day ago)

_Hinata sat in the chair next to Naruto's bed. She looked at him and she could still only see the boy who would give anything for his friends and precious people. "You know I really missed you Naruto-kun. I thought that you had really left me." At this point Hinata Started to cry gently. "I'm so glad that you're alive. While you were gone I had thrown myself into my training. I refused to go out with anyone because I didn't think it would be right. You have my heart Naruto-kun, you always have and you always will." With that Hinata, a little red in the face, leaned down and gave Naruto a chaste kiss on the lips. "I hope you wake up soon so I can tell you again how important you are to me and I can do that again." Hinata Blushed and left the room._

Tsunade and Kasumi didn't visit Naruto over the last two days. They opted to try and drown their sorrow in sake. Tsunade was drinking because if what Inoichi found in Naruto's mind said he left of his own free will she would have to execute him for treason. Kasumi drank because she wasn't sure that Naruto's mental state would improve. If she were still sealed within his belly she could have helped restore order to Naruto's mind. As it was Naruto was on his own unless Tsunade, with Inoichi's help, could find a way to repair the damage.

Back in the room Inoichi had procured the walls and floors were lined with complex seals. Inoichi said that the seals were used to focus the Yamanaka abilities and they helped straighten out damaged and twisted minds. Besides that, the seals would allow Inoichi to more easily access the memories that were previously locked in Naruto's mind. The thing he didn't tell everyone was that using this jutsu he would live through most of Naruto's life via his memories. Every memory he entered, which would likely be quite a few, he would see and to a lesser extent feel everything Naruto felt.

Finally ready to procede, Inoichi asked that everyone but Tsunade leave the room. When the others went to protest Inoichi cut them off. "This jutsu is very dangerous. As I enter Naruto's mind it is likely that there will be some backlash. Chances are if you were to stay in here one or more of you would get hurt. I can't allow that." Sensing another question Inoichi Preempted it. "The only reason I am allowing Tsunade to stay in the room is that she has the nessecary medical expertise to help me if the jutsu goes wrong and I hurt myself. That and I will need her to supply a constant flow of chakra to the seals on the floor here so the jutsu doesn't cut me off from my own body."

The three Konoha nin accepted the explanation and left the room. Kasumi was a little more reluctant to leave the room but did it anyway knowing that Inoichi would need all the concentration he could get.

Shortly after the group left the seals in the room began to glow a light blue and Inoichi slumped over seemingly dead. Tsunade quickly checked on him and found him to be alive. She assumed that the jutsu was working and that she would have her needed answers in a while. In the mean time Tsunade did the one thing asked of her and started to feed chakra into the seals to keep them active.

Inoichi reentered Naruto's mind to find it much more organized now. The problem he knew he would have is that using this jutsu tended to rearrange where memories were kept so he would have to search every door to find the information he needed. He hoped that he would finf the information in the first couple doors but he knew it would never happen, he wasn't that lucky. At any rate Inoichi started on his trek into Naruto's memories. He decided to start on the left side. He opened the first door and was pulled into the memory. This was one of Naruto's bad memories and he wouldn't soon forget it.

A/N I will continue on in Naruto's mind next chapter. It may take more than the one chapter to do this but I hope you still enjoy. Thanks for reading so far.


	4. Chapter 3

Naruto's Return

Chapter 3

Inoichi was immediately thrown into the memory as Naruto. From what he could see, he was running away from something or someone. Inoichi tried to figure out when this happened and where he was by taking note of his surroundings. He noticed that he was in a short hallway at the moment. The floors were wood and were slightly damaged as if they had been in use for quite some time. While taking not of his surroundings Inoichi continued to run through the memory. Finally he noticed something that could tell him about where and when he was. He turned a corner and saw many pairs of shoes in all sizes. It seemed that this memory took place while Naruto was still in the orphanage. This would suggest that Naruto was 4 years old at the absolute oldest. Now that Inoichi had an idea of where and when he was he started to pay more attention to what was going on around him.

"—back here you little brat," came a familiar voice from behind Inoichi.

"Why are you doing this, I didn't do anything. He tripped and I tried to help him," Inoichi heard himself replying.

"A likely story demon brat." Came the voice of the woman again. At this point Inoichi found himself tripping. He hit the ground and was quickly grabbed by the woman. She carried him to the basement stairs while saying, "Now here is your punishment for hurting someone else you little monster." At the end of that sentence Inoichi finally got a good look at the woman who had grabbed him.

'Well, its Koyama Mako' thought Inoichi, 'I can't believe she would do something like this to a child,' was the rest of his thought as Mako threw him down the basement stairs. At this point the memory got fuzzy and he was kicked back into the hallway full of doors to Naruto's memories.

'That had to be an isolated incident' thought Inoichi, 'There's no way he would still be alive if more than that happened, heck if he did live through a lot of that type of treatment I woud imagine that he would have run away from Konoha.' Having instilled in himself the firm belief that the previous memory was an isolated incident Inoichi opened the next door.

Outside of Naruto's mind Tsunade watched Naruto. She knew Inoichi would be essentially reliving Naruto's memories. What she didn't know was that in forcing himself into Naruto's mind, Inoichi was forcing Naruto to relive all of those memories as well. That became clear to her when, despite the coma Naruto was in, he started to thrash about and groan in a way that suggested physical pain. Tsunade just hoped that Inoichi would find what she needed real soon so that neither of them would have to suffer any more.

Back in Naruto's mind Inoichi had just entered his second memory. He had no trouble finding out where or when he was because he was immediately able to identify the front of the classroom his daughter, Ino, had attended at the academy for her first year. As the memory started it didn't seem to bad. The kids were being lectured on the defeat of the Kyuubi by the Yondaime Hokage. The lecture was pretty simple and Inoichi didn't pay much attention to the memory until the kids were allowed to ask questions. The normal academy student questions like how can I get as strong as the Yondaime or where did Kyuubi come from were asked but when Naruto went to ask a question he was accused of trying to disrupt class. All he wanted to know was how Yondaime had defeated the Kyuubi but his sensei, Kushiyama Miko, a woman who Inoichi knew very well from her almost daily stops at the Yamanaka Flower shop, refused to answer and punished him for a very logical, in Inoichi's opinion, question.

Naruto's punishment didn't seem all that bad at first because Miko just said he would be required to stay after school for sparring practice. The problem was that she set him up with the upper year students knowing that he would lose. Not only did Naruto lose every spar soundly, Miko didn't stop the spars until Naruto could barely move. She would then fix him up enough that he could try again and get beat down again. This continued for three hours until Naruto was finally knocked unconscious at the end of one spar.

Inoichi was violently flung out of this memory. 'His life couldn't really have been that bad, could it have?' Inoichi thought. 'If his life were really always like that I would have thought he would release the Kyuubi at some point. It must have gotten better when he got older.' With that thought going through his head Inoichi prepared to enter the next door down the line when he spotted an abnormally dark and damaged door. He decided to enter to find out what could have been so bad that even when he buried it, it came back to the surface. Entering the door Inoichi found out what had happened very quickly.

Upon entering this memory Inoichi was able to tell what day it was but not the year. It was October tenth, the day the Kyuubi was "killed" and Inoichi assumed if the last two memories were anything to go by that this day would have been bad. In Naruto's memory Inoichi had just been watching the window for the last 10 minutes. He figured out he had to be near the hokage tower and near the slum area of the city but that lead him to wonder why Naruto was there until he found himself speaking Naruto's lines. "This really sucks. Everyone else can go out today but if I do, people try to kill me. I wonder what I ever did to be treated so badly. Why does everyone hate me?" At this point Inoichi noticed that his eyes closed. He couldn't see anything but he started to feel his hands get wet. 'Naruto is crying' thought Inoichi. 'It seems he doesn't know about the Kyuubi yet and he just think he must have done something horrible.'

While Inoichi was thinking a newly promoted Jounin entered Naruto's apartment. He silently snuck through the hall towards the only room that Naruto could be hiding in. He silently crept into the room and watched as Naruto cried.

Inoichi was broken out of his thoughts as he heard a voice from behind himself. "Well, well, well. I never knew a demon could fake tears." The jounin chuckled at the look of fear that was plastered across Inoichi's face or rather Naruto's face. "I lost so many friends and family members when you attacked and I've waited for this day to come, the day I kill the demon and become a hero. Everyone will be glad when your gone."

"NO, it can't be true." Inoichi heard himself yell out in Naruto's voice. "What did I do, why do you hate me?" he finally asked. "I never killed ANYONE."

"Cut the crap you demon. We've had to deal with you for the last eight years. It's time for you to DIE." Screamed the jounin. He charged Naruto with a kunai in his right hand. Naruto just curled up into the fetal position waiting for the blow to come. Inoichi suddenly found himself in a world of pain. The jounin had jammed his kunai into Naruto's left leg. He felt the kunai get pulled out and then the pain came back again, this time in his left arm. Finally a third strike came and the pain that came originated just under his ribcage. The jounin just laughed at the position that Naruto still stayed in. "Well, not going to say anything? Guess I'll just finish you off."

Naruto finally looked up at the man again. His vision blurring from blood loss and asked the same questions he had kept on asking. "Why? What did I do to you?" Inoichi saw the jounin pull a second kunai from his pouch; at least he thought it was a kunai, he couldn't tell at this point. Whatever the object was it was coming at his neck now. As the kunai inched closer Inoichi heard a noise from the front of the apartment, it sounded a lot like a door being broken in. The memory seemed to slow down as the kunai inched closer and closer when Inoichi heard a yell from the hallway.

"NARUTO," it sounded like Sandaime-sama.

"At least jiji is here." Said Naruto as the kunai was just about to enter his neck. At this point the arm holding the kunai went limp and something warm splashed out over Naruto. He fell unconscious just seconds later.

Inoichi picked himself up off the ground in Naruto's mind and shuddered. He had no choice but to believe that Naruto's life was horrible. It explained all of the locked away memories he had seen before and he hopped that it had gotten better at some point. He knew it had to have gotten at least marginally better but he really believed that Naruto needed to be happy at this point.

Pulling out of his thoughts Inoichi got back to work. For the next couple hours he explored Naruto's memories trying to find the information he needed but only finding more and more reason to hate the village he lived in, he was even able to justify the aura of anger and despair that seemed to grow stronger with every passing day in the memories.

Inoichi finally found the memories he needed and he was glad that he did, it meant he was finally able to leave this tortured mind and he could report to Tsunade. As Inoichi readied to end the technique he thought 'After I report to Tsunade I'm getting a drink.' With that he jumped back to his own body.

Tsunade was getting tired. She had been putting a steady stream of chakra into the seals in the room for the last two hours. Finally she noticed movement from Inoichi's previously still body and she stopped releasing chakra into the seals. Inoichi stood up and Tsunade noticed that he had paled rather seriously. Despite her exaustion the med-nin in her jumped into action. She rushed over to Inoichi to check on him but he quickly waved her off. "I'm ok" he said, "I just never thought I would see anything that horrible."

"What do you mean?" asked Tsunade, "Were the last two years really that bad?"

"I didn't just see the last two years of his life, I saw almost all of it and it was almost all bad," Inoichi said, "I never realized his life was so bad."

"What was so bad? I know he was mistreated but it couldn't have been as horrible as you make it seem Inoichi, if it were that bad I would have thought he would have snapped at some point." Said Tsunade.

"I would have thought so as well but he hasn't. At any rate it's not my spot to tell you about his life." Started Inoichi, "I got the information you needed though."

"All I need to know is that he wasn't committing treason," said Tsunade, "He had to have been taken against his will or have been incapacitated in some form. So long as he hasn't given away any of Konoha's secrets and he didn't leave of his own free will he hasn't committed any crime."

Inoichi thought for a few seconds then looked Tsunade in the eye, "He didn't do anything treasonous, he may have wanted to at some point during the last two years but he didn't. There is one thing from his memories that you may want to know about though."

"What would that be?" Asked Tsunade.

"Well," started Inoichi, "it's about that redhead who was here with Naruto…"

"What about her?" Tsunade Interupted.

"We should talk about this somewhere else," said Inoichi, "away from prying ears and eyes." It was at this point that Tsunade noticed the presence of Hinata outside the door.

Tsunade waved Hinata into the room. "I want you to take Naruto back to the hospital," said Tsunade offhandedly, "Tell the nurses to call myself and Gaara if his condition changes. I would also like you to send Kasumi to Gaara's office so we can talk to her."

Two days later Hinata, Chouji, Shikamaru, Inoichi, and Tsunade were preparing to head back to Konoha. With them they had a small squad of med-nin and a small covered wagon just long enough for one person to lay inside of it. The group was standing at the gates of Suna waiting for them to open. Right as the gates opened Kasumi could be seen running up to the group. "Why didn't anyone tell me you were moving Naruto to Konoha," Kasumi started, "Wherever he goes I go. He said I could come with him before he passed out."

Tsunade and Inoichi looked on nervously at the declaration Kasumi made but it seemed no one else noticed. "I'm sorry but you won't be able to join us, we don't know who you really are and unless Naruto wakes up to tell me you're trustworthy I can not and will not allow you into the gates of Konoha," sighed Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama, why won't you trust her?" asked Hinata, "From what I heard she is the reason that Naruto is alive right now. If she hadn't brought Naruto here to Suna he could be dead right now."

"Hinata, I'm sorry but I have nothing to prove that she wouldn't hurt anyone in Konoha and as such I can't let her into the village." Said a rather aggravated Tsunade, "I can't however, stop her from traveling with us. If Naruto wakes up before we reach Konoha and he says she is trustworthy then I will rethink allowing her in but until then I have no reason to trust her despite the fact that she saved Naruto."

Kasumi, realizing that Tsunade probably knew who she actually was at this point decided to stay in the back by the wagon. 'I can understand why they don't trust me if they know who I am' thought Kasumi, 'If they knew everything I did for Naruto and what he did for me though they may be more willing to accept me. I just have to get Tsunade and Inoichi away from the others so I can tell them what happened between Naruto and myself. I still doubt that they'll trust me though.

At this point the gates of Suna started to open with a loud groan. The noise of the gates masked the noise of a soft groan coming from the back of the wagon to all but one set of ears. "Naruto?" whispered Kasumi, hope in her voice. Kasumi watched him for a moment as the gates finished opening and noticed him starting to move. "Naruto," cried Kasumi as she turned to the front of the group. "Hokage-sama, I think Naruto is waking up," yelled Kasumi.

Tsunade ran to the back of the group to look in on Naruto and noticed that he was starting to move about a bit and he was groaning. "You," said Tsunade as she turned to one of the accompanying med-nin, "I want you to do a full scan and let me know if anything is wrong." The med-nin did as he was told and had finished the scan within two minutes. "Nothing seems to be wrong with him at this point in time," the med-nin said with an air of certainty, "I would say that he should fully awaken within the next ten minutes and he should be up and moving within a day." Tsunade sighed in relief and smiled for the first time since she had received the summons from Gaara. She walked back to the front of the group and yelled for everyone to move out. The trip back to Konoha looked bright.


End file.
